Oil Patch

According to a tweet by 630 Ched’s Dan Tencer, Ryan Whitney will not receive a suspension or fine for his hit Wednesday night on Minnesota Wild right winger Cal Clutterbuck.

Clutterbuck did play following the collision, but not the entire game. Today, the Wild have released that Clutterbuck is suffering a charley horse injury.

Bryan Reynolds of Hockey Wilderness had this to say of the play “If that isn’t a blatant attempt to injure, I don’t know what is. Mike Yeo says Clutterbuck has a “charlie horse” and it is not Clutterbuck’s knee, but that should matter little. It was absolutely disgustingly dirty, and could have ended extemely badly for both players. There is a reason knee on knee hits (or even attempted knee on knee hits) are suspended. They can be career ending, and are flat out stupid”

Another opinion cold of course be that Whitney didn’t initiate the hit and was expecting Clutterbuck to continue making a wide turn. Ryan Whitney has only recently returned to the Oilers lineup after suffering a knee injury of his own.

Clutterbuck missed Wild practice Thursday and may miss Friday’s game against the New Jersey Devils, but coach Mike Yeo is hopeful that will not be the case, but does not sound optimistic that Clutterbuck will play. “You never know about these things, though, sometimes you come to the rink the next day and you feel pretty good.”

I understand the outrage that may be felt by Wild fans. Had this play happened to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Nugent-Hopkins was to miss Friday’s game, there would be some very unhappy fans in Edmonton. Hopefully it is only a charley horse and Clutterbuck returns to health soon. At the same time, maybe it is a good thing that the Oilers aren’t as easy to play against as they have been in the past. Oilers have not been suspended for many years before Andy Sutton this season and while the intention should never be to make dangerous plays that could be damaging to the health of other players, that is something that has been happening to Oilers players and injuries and hockey will always go hand in hand.

About Oil Patch

Lisa McRitchie is a fairly new writer, online at least, but makes up for inexperience with passion for the game of hockey and memories of Mrs. Leskiw’s English AP class; who knew they would pay off one day.

Oil Patch focuses on the Edmonton Oilers, the Edmonton Oil Kings, The Oklahoma City Barons and Team Canada Hockey with game coverage, news updates, speculation and interviews.

Although the Oilers have had a difficult past decade… or three, here at Oil Patch, the future looks bright.